Paddy Roy Bates, who occupied an abandoned fort in the North Sea and declared it the sovereign Principality of Sealand with himself as its prince, has died aged 91, his son said on Wednesday.

In the 1960s, inspired by the "pirate radio" movement, Bates set up Radio Essex on an offshore fort. When that was closed down, he moved in 1966 to Fort Roughs, a disused second world war platform in international waters about seven miles off the coast.

Rejecting a British order to leave, he proclaimed the fort the Principality of Sealand, declaring himself Prince Roy and his wife, Joan, as princess.

The 550-square-metre (5,920-square-foot) fort two concrete towers connected by an iron platform claimed to be the world's smallest sovereign state, though it was not internationally recognized.

Since an initial attempt to reclaim the fort was rejected by an English court, Britain has largely ignored the breakaway platform.

Despite the lack of legal status, Bates gave Sealand its own constitution, red, white and black flag, passports, stamps, coins, national anthem and a motto, E Mare Libertas: "From the sea, freedom".

No income taxes. I bet he could talk a few Frenchies into moving their legal address there.....to avoid the 75% income tax, 22% VAT, 18% social tax....that the new Marxist plans to put in place next year.

Dude fights in the Spanish Civil War and WWII, and then formed his own principality out of an old fort off the eastern coast of England. England let him be, so now you can become a Count/Countess or Lord/Lady of Sealand.

Forget the guy in the commercials; this was The World’s Most Interesting Man.

Dude fights in the Spanish Civil War and WWII, and then formed his own principality out of an old fort off the eastern coast of England. England let him be, so now you can become a Count/Countess or Lord/Lady of Sealand.

Forget the guy in the commercials; this was The World’s Most Interesting Man.

When I was a kid my grandmother had the biggest garden in our inner-city neighborhood. Her house wasn't crammed against the house next door like others in the neighborhood because when she and Grandpa purchased the property in the 1940s, they were able to acquire the vacant lot next to it. The vacant lot was turned into a flower and vegetable garden.

Sometimes when Gram had a stepladder sitting in the yard just next to the back patio, I would climb to the top and sit, pretending I was a king and the stepladder was my "throne". Gram's garden was my little "kingdom".

"I wonder how much one of those "aristocratic titles" might run...? I've always suspected I might be titled nobility trapped in a commoner's body." - Andrew

My brother once shared with me that my father's family up in Northern Minnesota were all poor white trash. I know they originally came over here from Germany as indentured servants. The Catholics kicked them out of Germany and they went to England and the English didn't want them so they put them on ships and sent them to the Colonies as indentured servants.

On my mom's side I also know that my grandfather came from a 40 acre potato farm in East Prussia which is now part of Poland. There were like 12 brothers and they couldn't all stay on the farm so my maternal grandfather first joined the Army and fought as a German soldier against the Russians in WWI and afterwards worked in coal mines in Germany. Uncle Gustave, his younger brother, was all ready living in the United States so he sent the money for my grandfather to bring his family over here in 1928.

So? I'm fairly certain we're poor white trash no account peasants as far back as the eye can see. I doubt there's any royalty in my family.

What is that, about $50? I thought it would be a lot more expensive. I'm really, really tempted to make a totally frivolous purchase here... just so I can tell people I'm a baron. That might be worth giving up five meals out for. <grin>